Inspections at BMW, Porsche, Mercedes-Benz, Hyundai and Renault. What suspicions does the Competition Council have
The Competition Council carried out unexpected inspections at the headquarters of six car importers, during the investigations initiated on the market on the market for maintenance and repair of vehicles and/or on the market distribution for vehicles in Romania.
The repairs were made only in the services approved by the car importers. Photo archive
The competition authority holds indications regarding the existence of agreements between the six car importers and the members of their authorized cargo and car repair networks, agreements that have the ability to restrict the access of competitors (car repair units outside the authorized network and/or distributors of equivalent quality spare parts).
Thus, the Competition Council has suspicions that certain contractual provisions could determine the owners to carry out maintenance operations and certain works to repair them, which are not covered by the guarantee, only in the authorized network of importers and/or using only origin exchange parts, under the sanction of losing the vehicle guarantee.
“The guarantee of a vehicle should not be conditioned by the accomplishment of works that do not enter the guarantee and which are paid by the owner only within the authorized networks or with the exclusive use of certain spare parts. Such a practice is harmful to competition and harm customers”, Said Bogdan Chirițoiu, president of the Competition Council.
The competition authority carried out unexpected inspections at the headquarters of six active car importers in Romania: BMW Romania SRL, Porsche Romania SRL, Mercedes-Benz Romania SRL, Hyundai Auto Romania SRL, Renault Commercial Roumanie SRL/Automobile SA and Euro Inter Trade Corporation SRL.
Inspectors are selling the brands of Audi, BMW, Cup, Dacia, EQ, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Mini, Nissan, Renault, Seat, Skoda, Smart, Volkswagen and Volvo, which represents about 70% of the car park in Romania.
The unexpected inspections are authorized by the Bucharest Court of Appeal and are justified by the need to obtain all the information and documents necessary to clarify the possible analyzed anti -competitive practices. Making them does not represent a pre -pronunciation regarding the guilt of companies.
In case the Competition Council will find the violation of the competition rules, the companies involved risk fines of up to 10% of the turnover. However, companies that cooperate with the competition authority, within the clemency program, can obtain immunity to the fine or substantial reductions of the fines.
